The invention concerns an assembly line of tires on their mounting wheels, with a view to obtaining mounted assemblies ready to be delivered at the right time to customers, generally motor vehicle manufacturers. It concerns, in particular, the means designed to use said assembly process and the product quality control means.
Such an assembly line contains, in the manner known through use, conveying means, such as conveyor belts or metal rollers making it possible to route the tires, wheels and mounted assemblies, respectively, from one point to another on the assembly line, said tires and said wheels coming from a supply warehouse by means of suitable pallets. The seats of each wheel rim, said wheel having been centered, as well as the beads of the tire are lubricated to facilitate, in known fashion, the mounting of the tire on the wheel rim, mounting being carried out by means of a mounting machine or mounter and the two beads of the tire being set in place by pressure with the aid of pressure arms and a roller. An inflation bell makes possible the introduction of gas for inflating the assembly by intervals between bead heels of the tire and the wheels.
Various documents describe machines for mounting or assembling tires on their rims. One example of such a machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,661,053. A more advanced machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,079 and consists of an apparatus for mounting tires on their rims without concern about the rim dimensions, whatever the diameter or overall width, the dimensions being detected before mounting.
The mounted assembly, inflated to the pressure recommended by the customer, is then conveyed to a machine for placement of the tire heels, which machine, by pressure on the sidewalls of said tire, makes possible a slight rotation of the beads and their repositioning under the effect of the inflation pressure. The mounted assembly, balanced on a balancing machine, is then conveyed on conveyor belts to a storage warehouse, where it will be picked up for delivery to the manufacturers.
The tires and wheels, on their arrival on the conveying means at the beginning of the assembly line, are not totally examined as to their dimensional conformity; only photoelectric cells signal their presence or absence.
The delivery of quality mounted assemblies to a manufacturer requires matching of the tire to the wheel to conform to the manufacturing customer's demand, that is, it requires a good tire to be mounted on a good wheel. The mounted assembly will likewise be a quality product if it matches dimensionally what is requested and if it is inflated to the pressure recommended by the manufacturer.